Monster
by okmeamithinknow
Summary: Girl meets monster, girl befriends monster, monster and girl grow up together, girl and monster fall in love...
1. This is just the prologue

_'And I believe this may call for a proper introduction, and well_

 _Don't you see, I'm the narrator, and this is just the prologue?'_

The Only Difference Between Martyrdom And Suicide Is Press Coverage,

Panic! At the Disco

* * *

 _It was a dark and stormy night…_

Wait!

That's not right.

While it was night when their story began as do all stories about things that go bump in the night, the clear sky and it's twinkling stars and complete lack of thunderous clouds should have been a warning sign to Gajeel that things would not go as he'd planned.

How did the phrase go?

 _'The best-laid plans of monsters and men often go awry.'_ In the years to come Gajeel would shake his head at the youthful naivety that brought him to her, the eagerness to prove himself, but we're getting ahead of ourselves.

Let's try this again.

 _Once upon a time…_

Nope still not right.

There was definitely a time, 11:45pm to be perfectly exact, on the first Sunday of September, though why Levy could remember that and not what year would be beyond both of their comprehension. The two of them would only be able to recall the year after minutes of calculations and hours of bickering.

Maybe Levy could remember the time best because she had spent the last twenty minutes staring at the clock before her prince alarming gave her the biggest scare of her young life.

Or maybe it was because it was at that precise moment that their lives forever intertwined and set them on a course towards an ever after where they were never seen or heard from again.

Fairy tale. Scary story. Their story is neither, and yet, both, at the same time.

* * *

 **A.N.:** You guys have no idea how excited I am for this story! I've literally been plotting it out for months. However the actual writing I just started, so I apologize in advance for slow updates, if they happen.


	2. I'm friends with the monster

_'I'm friends with the monster that's under my bed'_

The Monster, Eminem ft. Rihanna

7

* * *

Sunset had long since passed, and the smoky tendrils of twilight crawled their way through the window, wrapping the bedroom in a darkness that slithered its way into the cracks and crevices of the room.

Shadows flickered across stuffed animals, and paused over moving boxes, inspecting every inch of the hard wood floor, searching for spots that creak and groan. They weaved throughout the room, sliding over an antique vanity that, based on the grime-coated mirror, and discolored paint that flaked where patches had been layered on too thickly and cracked as it dried, desperately needed refurbishing. They lingered where the closet lay ajar, long forgotten by the room's sole occupant, before converging beneath the small four-poster bed.

A girl, not much older than seven, lie awake, bundled underneath a hand-me-down quilt. Bright amber eyes blinked open and closed in a slow sleepy pattern.

Her parents, having tucked her into bed hours ago, had escaped into the comforting arms of slumber themselves. With the doors to the house locked and the windows firmly shut against the dangers that lurked in the dark, they had naïvely believed that it would be a peaceful night.

It was late. Far later than any reasonable person, let alone a girl of her age, should have been awake. She was supposed to be blissfully frolicking with fairies in the vivid meadows that her sleepy imagination created each night, rescuing princes and vanquishing dragons, or sometimes just the opposite, in dreamland. Her parents assumed it was where she'd drifted off to after they pulled the covers snugly around her, ruffled her cerulean hair one last time, and kissed her goodnight.

But a nagging apprehension left young Levy McGarden incapable of sleep.

The first day at a new school loomed on the horizon.

Second grade wouldn't have been that scary, but the end of summer heralded a drastic change for the small family. Upon the death of Levy's paternal grandfather, her family packed up their minivan and trekked across Fiore to the family estate. She'd only met the man twice in her short life, but from the sizable chunk of money he'd left for her education along with the rest of the inheritance her grandfather willed to his only son and his family, he'd clearly doted on the girl.

The cross-country road trip took longer than expected and the family finally made it to old McGarden manor with barely enough time to register for school the following week. As her father settled into his new office, the large publishing company he worked for happily transferring his duties to the family's new residence in Magnolia without protest, Levy and her mother set about waging war against the grime that coated the property.

The curtains that her mother laundered the previous morning dimmed the glow coming from the moon that night, but the light of the digital clock illuminated the room enough to make out the faint outlines of the surrounding furniture, bathing the room with a crimson light. Levy'd been staring at the clock for what felt like hours, willing sleep to come and trying not to worry.

Not that she was prone to lose sleep, but there in the dark, without the reassuring comfort of her parents, in a home that still smelled of mothballs and excessive dust, regardless of the week's worth of meticulous scrubbing they'd put into cleaning, she couldn't help her growing anxiousness.

Among the biggest of her worries were those about making friends and avoiding bullies. _Would the kids at her new school like the same things they did back home?_

And whether people would make fun of her height, again. _Yes, I know I'm short. I can't help it._

Or the color of her hair. _Yes, it is really blue. No, I don't dye it. I don't know where it came from._

If she'd end up with a nice teacher, one who would share her love of reading.

If the library was as extensive at the private school her grandfather's money was paying for as it was at her old school.

A sudden tapping at the window made her jump and drew her eyes away from the clock. The tapping turned to scraping and the jagged sound sent a shudder down Levy's spine. The curtains billowed as something, probably the central air conditioning she figured, blew them open, and the branches of the old oak tree, illuminated by the light of the full moon, cast shadowy talons that clawed their way across the room and onto the bed.

A creeping chill spread across the room, a welcome feel as the summer heat had yet to relinquish its fiery control over the early September days and still permeated the night air. However the unnaturalness of it struck the girl, who huddled on the bed, as the minutes dragged by and the cold grew deeper, far deeper than what was should have been possible. It was then she remembered that unlike their small house back home, for all its opulence and grandeur, her grandfather's house lacked any sort of central cooling system. She clutched her blankets closer, wrapping the fabric tightly around her head.

Breath spiraled into the air in a fine mist as Levy stared in wide-eyed horror. Goosebumps scattered down her arms, and the hairs rose on the back of her neck. Pulling the orange blanket over her hair, she burrowed further down until only amber eyes peered out from underneath.

Tremors wracked her body, and the realization that it wasn't solely from the frigid temperature of the room hit her hard. Across the room, the floorboard creaked, and she squeezed her eyes closed trying to shut out the fear. Levy's heart pounded in her chest, and a whimper escaped her lips.

 _Eyes_.

Somewhere in the shadows, something watched her. The feeling grew as the seconds, minutes, hours, dragged by and Levy peeked a single eye open to scan the room, searching for the source.

After a week of exploring the expanse of the interior of the home and the accompanying grounds, Levy still hadn't grown accustom to the noises it made, specifically groans and creaks it made after the sun set each night. Her parents assured her that the noises she heard were only the old house settling, the wood complaining as the temperature changed and the atmosphere cooled, but the young girl's mind still couldn't help picturing the horrors that might lurk in hidden alcoves and the unexplored attic.

Her grandfather died in the house, so it made sense that his ghost would still be haunting it, but ghosts didn't exist. _Right?_

Then, out of the corner of her eye, something in the shadows moved and her breathing stopped altogether as she curled in on herself underneath the blankets. She flinched as it slithered across the floor and slipped beneath the bed. Tensing, Levy waited, unsure of what exactly lurked below and thoroughly convinced that if she never found out its true nature she would die happy.

There was nothing to be afraid of, she told herself.

Maybe it was a cat. That's right maybe a stray kitten wandered into the house when her mother and her left the doors open that afternoon to air out the dust they'd stirred up. Convincing her parents to let her keep it wouldn't be that hard and she'd name it after a flower or something silly like Happy or something like that.

And maybe the scraping at the windows was the oak tree. Just that morning Levy overheard her father lamenting over the fact that he paid an arm and a leg for a landscaping company to trim the branches away from the main portion of the house. Perhaps they missed the limbs on this side of the house, or they just trimmed half of the yard today and they'd get to the other half tomorrow.

No matter what pretty lie she told herself, however, nothing could steady her erratic breathing. Her chest began to burn as she took in shallow gasps. Panicked eyes scanned the room, searching for some sort of rational explanation, something to settle the frantic beating of her heart.

And just as she began to relax, figuring it was all in her head, that she needed to read less, something shook underneath the bed. It lifted the mattress up, the violent shuddering rattling the pictures that hung on the wall.

Her nerves already raw, Levy let out a small shriek, but the shriek must have been louder than she thought because before she knew it, both of her parents burst into the room. They threw on the lights and her fear dissipated as the shaking came to an abrupt halt.

As her parents stared at her, scanning for intruders and checking Levy for injuries, Levy realized that the rattling sounded very familiar, almost like…

Like…

Like a sneeze?

Like that one time her cousin and her snuck over to the neighbors house to see the month old kittens and the two had cooed until the littlest one had sneezed all over her cousin's face when she'd held it too close. The rattling was somehow just as precious, but on a much grander scale and in that moment Levy knew she needed to figure out what kind of animal hid under her bed and find some way to keep it.

How ridiculous of her to get so upset over something like that, especially to go as far as waking the whole house up when she should have been asleep. There would be no way her parents would let her keep it, though, if they realized that it caused the night's disturbance. So assuring her parents that she'd only been dreaming, Levy snuggled back underneath her blankets.

Satisfied their daughter hadn't come to any harm, and there was nothing lurking in the shadows, they bid her goodnight for a second time that evening, giving her one last kiss before turning off the light and shutting the door. She waited, listening to them return to their room and settle down for the night. Finally convinced that she waited long enough, Levy threw back the covers and scooted over the edge of the mattress.

A growl, so quiet that Levy strained to hear it, rumbled from below her. Almost immature in its tone, as though the more like a cub than a full-grown tiger, something about it's pitch reminded her a cat's purr. Maybe it was a cat and her attempts to soothe herself earlier weren't the ramblings of her overactive imagination, and the thought made her giggle as she peered past the bed skirt.

"You're not a dust bunny," Levy chirped through her giggles. But giggles turned to frenzied scrambling as the not-a-cat-or-dust-bunny emerged from below. Levy dove to the opposite end of the bed, clutching the wooden footboard in an attempt to ground herself and to put more space between her and the thing under the bed. Nails biting into the wood, she stared in mute horror at the sight before her.

Intangible shadows, like smoke, spiraled out from underneath the bed that Levy and her mother turned into her new haven. They undulated, growing more concrete as more slid from the shadows, pooling from the darkest corners of the room onto the daisy-patterned rug. The growl deepened with each piece of darkness that joined it, solidifying its shape. The shadows finally stopped its swirling, and a beast, as she could see its corporeal form now, solidified into lanky mass.

This creature was definitely no cat, not unless cats in Magnolia looked completely different from the cats back home. The most fitting description of the beast that Levy's sleep deprived brain could come up with was demon. Except no description Levy ever read of demons, not that she'd read many, ever mentioned them being covered with scales. Yet, from the tips of the horns that poked through shaggy black hair on the crown of its head to the protrusions on its back that could only be wings, the faint outlines of scales, scales that shifted in and out of existence, coated it's skin.

In the dim light, Levy couldn't be certain, but aside from the distinctive non-human features, it could have been a boy, somewhere around her age, if she had to guess.

Two glowing orbs, eyes the same shade of crimson as the numbers on her clock, stared back at her. The light from the clock managed to bathe the creature in a blood red glow, and Levy couldn't tell what color its skin should have been.

She blinked, trying to make sense of it, and when she pinched herself through the leg of her pink ducky pajamas, she realized she was still awake. This couldn't be real, and yet the pain that laced through her thigh was no figment of her overactive imagination. Which meant that this creature, the one with sharp claws that now stalked dangerously closer to her bed, existed. She gasped as it took lumbering steps towards her.

Without warning it came to an abrupt halt, and Levy's fear turned to confusion. But the feeling was short lived as a series of violent sneezes wracked the creature's body, each one much quieter and more dainty than Levy thought possible for a vicious creature of that size.

"Bless you?" she said, question mark all too apparent, when she thought it finished its convulsions. Her voice barely hovered above a whisper.

"Shut up," the creature growled, matching her volume. The rich tenor of its voice hinted at the promise of one day developing into a deep rumbling bass. Levy attempted to protest that she was only being polite, and didn't you bless everyone when they sneezed, and couldn't she extend that same courtesy to the things that go bump in the night? Even if they did eat little girls like her, but it cut her off. Eyes narrowed into a vicious scowl. "Shut up. It wasn't supposed ta go like this."

It turned away from her, muttering under its breath in a voice so low that Levy couldn't make out what exactly it was saying. Completely unsure of what to do, Levy watched the creature, studying its form. This close Levy could make out more of the finer details of its features. Her earlier assumptions were correct; he was definitely male, judging by the timbre of his voice, and if that hadn't been a big enough clue, the strong jaw line and brows set into a scowl now visible under Levy's fearful scrutiny clearly marked him as a man-creature… boy… thing… It also helped that he wasn't wearing a shirt. The scales rippled across his torso. They flexed and moved with each breath that he drew in.

Metallic looking studs scattered across his face and forearms and Levy found herself attempting to count the numerous piercings that littered his body, and glinted like glitter in the ill-lit bedroom. A short reptilian tail swayed behind him, barely visible behind its vestibule wings, and small patches of light followed the motion of each twitch. Levy realized that the piercings must extend down his back as well and the refraction from the clock sent cascades of light across the room like a nightmare fueled disco ball. One speck of light caught her in the eye and Levy flinched, drawing the thing's attention to her again.

"You," he growled as he rounded, jabbing a taloned finger at the girl. The piercing on his lip pulled at the flesh of his mouth where it twisted into a snarl. He took an angry step toward her. "You, shrimpy little pipsqueak, were supposed ta tremble in fear of the mighty Kurogane, the Black Steel Prince who's come ta get you from your nightmares, but noooooooo, you _giggle_."

He spat the last word at her like a physical blow and Levy shrank back trying to move as far away from the creature as possible. But the bed sat flush with the wall, and Levy had wedged herself into a corner, the wooden post of her bed biting into her back.

"I'm sorry, Mister Kurogane," she apologized. Levy held up her hands in surrender hoping to placate him, but the gesture only seemed to enrage him further. The low growl reverberated across the room again and he took a final step until his knees brushed the blankets.

"You should be!" he snapped, his voice growing louder with each word. "And it's Gajeel! Ugh. Humans." He threw an irritated hand into the air.

"Levy," she supplied. Gajeel blinked at her and shook his head, as if she were speaking nonsense and his rage faded to an irritated confusion. Levy realized this and so she continued. "My name is Levy, Levy McGarden. You told me your name, it's only fair that I tell you mine before you eat me, Mister Gajeel."

"I told ya, it's just Gajeel." Scowling at her, he asked, "And what do you mean eat you?"

"That's what you're here for, right? To eat me? Isn't that," she paused as she noticed the expression of bewilderment that coated his features. "Isn't that what you do?"

"A scrawny thing like you?" Gajeel snorted. "Ya wouldn't be much more than a mouthful." He waved his hand gesturing to her body.

"But… but don't monsters, you know, eat children?" Levy asked. "That's what all my books say you do."

Gajeel rolled his eyes and shook his head. He'd been warned that humans were dumb, but he hadn't realized how woefully ill informed they truly were. Eat children. How ridiculous. So he did the only thing he could.

 _He laughed._

* * *

At least Levy assumed the noise coming from the monster was some form of laugh. It was nothing like anything she'd ever heard. He laughed until his sides hurt and he had to brace himself on his knees, panting and trying to breathe.

"Me?" he wheezed through his odd laugh. "Eat a human? _Gihihi_ … Ya taste somethin' awful… _Gihihi_... Not even… _Gihihi_... if ya paid me... _Gihihihihihi_ …" but he couldn't finish the sentence as another wave of laughter roared through him. The monstrous booming sound shook the windows.

For a moment Levy as though she would drown under the sheer weight of the emotions washing over her as she processed his words. She was safe. Well as safe as she could get with a hulking beast standing – not really standing, more like hunched over snickering at something she didn't understand- scant feet from her. So she was safe maybe? If he wasn't going to eat her then why was he there? To hurt her? But wouldn't he have already done that if it were his intent? He appeared in her room, so obviously she was the one he was after, and if not her, then who? Her parents?

Wait, her parents. The sudden irrational fear of her parents finding her still up past her bedtime hit Levy. They'd already been irritated when they came in earlier and while they weren't the strictest of parents they would definitely be angry if she woke them a second time, regardless of the circumstances. To Levy's young mind, the fear of being caught vastly outweighed the situation she currently sat in. After all there would be no explaining this. She couldn't wrap her head around it as it was, and just because he hadn't lashed out violently with her didn't mean that he wouldn't with her parents. How had they not woken up to this?

"Quiet, or they'll hear you."" Levy hissed, tearing her eyes away from Gajeel for the first time since he emerged from underneath the bed to stare at the door. When he didn't quiet down, she lunged forward and upward, intent on covering his mouth with her hand, but the sudden movement startled him, effectively halting his laughter.

In the years to come Levy would think back to this moment and wonder here her sudden bravery and complete lack of self-preservation came from as she chided the creature that towered over her short frame. Even standing on the bed, as she was then, Levy only stood eye level with a pair of fangs that glinted red in the clock-light. Two sets of eyes narrowed at each other, one shooting daggers at the other, the other shocked at her unexpected boldness and attempting to decode the odd combination of sternness and pleading of the girl staring back at him.

"Oh," he said, his snickers tapering off when he finally caught on. Gajeel turned toward the door, waving a hand as though writing. Scrawling symbols glowed in the air around him. A muttered incantation that was followed by a single snap of his fingers, and the symbols flashed. The room filled with a brilliant light, filling in the shadowy corners and blinding the girl as a wave of power washed through the room. The gauzy fabric at the window fluttered again along with Levy's hair. The hairs on Levy's arm stood on end and she gave an involuntary shudder.

"Whoa what was that?" Levy looked at the creature with a mixture of awe and trepidation. Though she was still wary of his presence, she couldn't hide the amazement in her voice as the thick fear melted into a cautious acquiescence.

"Magic," he stated. He rolled his eyes as though it was the most obvious answer. "Now if anyone listens, they'll think they just hear you snorin'."

"Hey!" Levy exclaimed, planting her fists on her hips in an indignant huff. "I don't snore!"

"Course ya do," He nodded his head and his wings flapped behind him at the motion, ruffling her hair with the small breeze it stirred up.

It was then that Levy realized her close proximity to the monster. She stepped back, tripping in the soft cushion of the mattress and landing amongst the mountain of pillows and blankets that shifted during her mad scramble to evade the boy. The bed shuddered, hitting the wall. Wood clattered against drywall, the loudest sound of the night.

Levy's breath caught at the jarring sound and she waited anxiously to see if her parents would burst in the door as they had before. But the lack of response from the other room proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that Gajeel told the truth and the spell actually muffled the sound coming from her room. Satisfied that her parents wouldn't be barging in, she wanted to breathe a sigh of relief, but with the thing still towering over her- much taller now that she was seated on the bed once again- the sigh caught in the back of her throat and turned to a sputtering cough.

Levy's coughing fit gave Gajeel a moment to process the girl's reaction. "Wait, you saw that?" he asked, eyeing the girl suspiciously while she hacked on the bed. Clearing her throat one last time, she dipped her head in a small nod. Gajeel shook his head to clear it. "That's not right," he murmured, voice near a whisper. He squinted one eye closed and ran through a series of motions, muttering under his breath.

If worked right the spell should have been completely invisible to the uninitiated eye. No gushes of wind, no bright lights, and definitely no rush of magic power that left visible goosebumps down the small girl's arms. The only person to feel tingles running down their spines should have been him. The theory behind it was solid, and he'd practiced a thousand times before, and yeah it was his first time putting it to actual use and not under the watchful gaze of his mentor.

So how was it possible that this pint-sized wisp of a child could see it?

"What are you?" they breathed in unison. Twin looks of shock greeted one another and tension melted as they recognized the same expression in one another. Breaking eye contact to fix her gaze to where she fiddled with the hem of her pajamas, Levy let loose a nervous giggle which Gajeel answered with a low chuckle as he kneaded his talons into the plush carpet.

"Uh… isn't that obvious?" he gestured to himself, his attitude shifting from the menacing mien he'd adopted earlier. Now it hovered around cocky as he puffed up his chest; an action that went completely unnoticed by Levy as she continued to study her shirt, picking at a loose thread along the bottom of the garment nervously.

He sighed when he realized that his posturing was in vain, his own arrogance getting the better of him. The night had not gone according to plan and now his prey flat out ignored him in lieu of tracing the shapes of the ducks on her pajamas. Disgusted with the results of the night, he turned away, turning his back to the girl. He scrubbed a hand over his face as shoulders slumped in defeat. His father would be so disappointed in him and no one back home would ever let him live this down.

It was then that Levy chanced a glance up, peering at him through her lashes. Seeing his melancholy posture emboldened the girl, who took the opportunity to scoot off the bed. She crept closer, still vigilantly searching for signs of aggression in the boy before her, but his defeated posture struck a chord in the child's tender heart. Her parents joked that young Levy was a quite the knack for reading, having already taught herself to read in two other languages by the age of six, and if what she was reading in the body language of the boy in front of her, she'd clearly found a kindred spirit in need of help.

"Well yeah, you're clearly a monster," Levy said, attempting to sound cheerful. Taking note of the sharpness of the horns that spiraled out of his thick dark hair, and wings that sprouted from his back she stopped a few feet behind him. The tips of his wings touched the floor behind him, and though they would one day sustain him in flight, now the thin membranous skin was far too fragile. Fascinated by the way they stretched to near translucence with each breath the boy took, the wings contracting and expanding in time with his lungs, Levy's hands itched to run her fingers across the skin to see if it was as soft as it appeared. She hesitated, fingers just mere inches from brushing against the monster.

"Yeah right, pipsqueak," he muttered, unaware she'd moved from her place on the bed.

"Alright then if you're a monster, then why are you here?" Levy asked, as she circled around the boy.

"I'm scarin' ya. What does it look like I'm doin'?" He shrugged.

"But why?" she pressed, curiosity getting the better of her.

"Cause I'm a monster. That's what we do." Gajeel rolled his eyes at her. "Really it's like ya don't know nothin', shrimp."

"Well that's not very nice," she scowled at him.

"Never said I was, short-stuff"

"You know what you! You… you're just a bully!" Levy all but shouted at him, for a moment forgetting to whom she spoke and the circumstances of their meeting.

Gajeel scoffed and turned his head.

"Bullies are mean, and rude, and… and…" she paused and her face lit up as she remembered what her mother told her that very evening. _'All bullies are in need of one thing,'_ she'd explained that evening when Levy voiced her trepidation at starting her new school. A radiant smile lit her face as she gazed up at the monster and he was taken aback by the abrupt change of emotion. "And they need one thing," the grin turned cheeky as she continued.

He scoffed and quirked a studded brow at her. "And what would that be?"

 _"A friend."_

* * *

A.N.: Why yes, yes I did compare Gajeel to a kitten.

Also, I won't lie, the first couple chapters of this story I'm not super excited about. Mostly because I cannot wait for later chapters. However these first few chapters are crucial to the plot and establishing everything that's to come.


	3. A Monster, A Monster

_If I told you what I was_

 _Would you turn your back on me?_

 _And if I seem dangerous_

 _Would you be scared?_

Monster by Imagine Dragons

* * *

7

* * *

A month passed, and as October rolled into November, Levy began to question whether or not she dreamed the whole escapade. It wouldn't have been the first time the lines between her dreams and reality had blurred.

In most recent memory, she'd raved to her parents about a dream where her words became tangible as she wrote them. Her father, the impish prankster that he was, then took it upon himself to find Levy the most outrageous pen, claiming that Levy could now be let in on the family secret: Levy had been born into family of mages, who's magic had been kept hidden from the general populace for their own protection. When Levy'd turned to her mom, the blue-haired woman only smiled and nodded to verify his story. The story grew more and more elaborate, until a dubious Levy caught on to the lie and the three ended up in a fit of giggles around the kitchen table.

A lot changed in the two months since the family settled into their new house. Boxes found themselves emptied, shelves filled, and the last of the dust swept from the attic and basement. Levy's room saw the most drastic changes. In an attempt to smooth the transition from their old house, Levy's parents poured every available minute into fixing up the girl's room. The once dust-covered vanity now stripped of paint- a weekend project that Levy's dad had thrown himself into- sparkled underneath a new coat of varnish. Bookshelves, pilfered from the manor's extensive library, lined an entire wall of the room filled with books far beyond the comprehension of the average seven-year. Levy and her mother spent the first weekend after school started painting the walls a light robin's egg blue.

The choice of color was not lost on Levy's mother, who interpreted the decision as a cry for help and worried that it might indicate that move was taking a much harder toll on Levy than they previously thought.

But children are resilient and Levy, having attempted to make friends first with the monster that lurked beneath her bed and then her classmates at the private school she now attended, was more than happy in her new home. Even if her efforts at making friends at school weren't as successful as her first encounter with the monster that lived under her bed. She'd made some headway, but most of Levy's new classmates had been together since kindergarten and she found breaking into the tight knit group harder than her mom told her it would be.

The family had settled in though; the awkwardness of moving across the country faded and Levy's parent's found themselves falling back into familiar patterns. When her father's company sponsored an adults only Thanksgiving celebration, her parents didn't hesitate to RSVP yes.

It would be their first night without Levy since the move and while Levy was a fairly easygoing child who would often go off on her own to play or be found in the manor's vast library reading books well beyond her grade level, both parents were eager to spend some time outside of unpacking and refurbishing their house.

Levy's mom found a babysitter recommended by one of the mom's on the PTA, hiring one of the local girls to watch Levy for the night. Levy'd been more than delighted to greet the green haired teen at the door that night. Bisca Mulan made a killing working as the neighborhood babysitter, favored by both parents and children alike. She discovered that Levy was a sweet child who was more than willing to trounce her in multiple board games.

After playing, and loosing far too many games of Scrabble to the precocious seven year old than she'd care to admit to her friends who's vocabulary far exceeded her own, Bisca ushered the girl off to bed. The girls read a story together; one of Levy's favorites about a fire breathing dragon and a princess who became friends.

Having at least been successful in finding a new friend in the green-haired teen, Levy bade Bisca goodnight with a yawn. She closed her eyes, barely registering the click of the door shutting.

* * *

Something was off. Something was off and Levy couldn't figure out what it was. She rolled over, attempting to get comfortable.

It wasn't that her parents were gone. Levy was quite used to that. Back at their old house, her parents lead a fairly active social life. Most Friday nights were spent in the company of a babysitter while her parents attended one social function or another. So having Bisca there was nothing new.

No something was off with her bed. Levy sat up, eyes peering through the dark of the room, scanning for what she didn't know. She fluffed the pillows and lay back down, patting the bed beside her. The texture of the fabric felt off and it was then that Levy realized her favorite blanket was missing.

Levy's grandmother knitted the blanket after learning she was pregnant with Levy's mother. Her mother passed the blanket down to her daughter and Levy had yet to spend a night without the blanket. The well worn fabric was soft from years of use and hundreds of wash cycles. It reminded Levy of home, and the faded buttery yellow cloth was the best thing to soothe the anxiety of being without her parents for the first time in their new home.

Levy slipped from bed, feet landing soundlessly on the plush rug. She peered under the bed, searching for any sign that the blanket may have slipped off the bed and been kicked underneath. Finding no sign as to where it had gone, Levy scanned the room for it, again. Perhaps she left it in the playroom when she and Bisca made a pillow fort to play their board games in. Levy made her way to the door. She pulled it open. The wood and metal groaned as though they hadn't been opened in ages, a noise it hadn't made since the weekend when her father used WD40 on the thing to keep it from sticking.

"Bisca?" she called quietly from the doorway.

There was no answer down the darkened hallway. Bisca promised Levy before she left that she would leave the light on, but the dim hall that greeted the girl was in no way comforting. A naked bulb at the end of the hall illuminated the space. It flickered…

Once…

Twice…

Then guttered, bathing Levy in darkness. She let out a small squeak and scurried down the hall. Her footsteps were light on the carpet, and she nearly ran into the wall as she rounded the corner. Down the hall and halfway down the stairs, Levy did stumble. The groan of the staircase, the staircase she'd climbed enough times to know that the none of the steps should have groaned at all, startled her further. Only a last minute grab for the rail saved her from tumbling down the stairs.

The glow from the television in the living room near the end of the staircase cast an eerie pallor across the room, tinting Levy's skin to a sickly shade of gray. Levy could hear Bisca's voice above the sound of the television.

"….Yeah, it's a creepy old house, but it's good money, and the kid's sweet."

Levy rounded the corner and blinked as the light of the screen assaulted her eyes.

"Bisca," she whispered, voice timid and soft.

Her back to Levy the teen turned, placing a hand over the cell phone she'd been speaking into. The panicked look on Levy's face and her heavy breathing told the older girl that something was wrong.

"Alzack I'm gonna have to call you back," she said, hanging up the phone and placing it on the coffee table next to her. "What is it, sweetie?"

"I…" Levy hesitated not wanting to sound like a baby, but she knew she wouldn't be able to sleep without the blanket. She'd tried once at a sleep over in kindergarten and ended up calling her parents near midnight to bring it to her. "I couldn't find my blankie."

Bisca smiled brightly at her and walked over to the younger girl. She placed a soothing hand onto her shoulder.

"That's no problem," she said, guiding her back to the hall and up the stairs.

When the two reached the landing though, Bisca's smile faded.

"Huh." She scratched her head. "I could have sworn I left all the hall lights on."

Levy gave her a nervous look, and whispered, "They weren't on when I came out."

"Oh. I probably turned them off without thinking about it," Bisca said, flipping on the switch, but nothing happened.

She frowned then and tried the switch again. Up and down. Again and again, yet still nothing happened. With Bisca so focused on the light switch only Levy noticed that the shadows seemed to slink closer and she latched onto Bisca's hand with both hands, shifting closer to the teen's legs.

"Well that solves it; with a house as old as this we probably blew a fuse. No worries. I'll call your dad once you're back in bed," she said reassuringly.

Levy nodded. She clutched Bisca's hand, trying not to cling too tightly.

Trying and failing.

Soon her fingers began to hurt from the effort, but it wasn't long before the two girls reach Levy's door. The pale blue door was shut, though Levy distinctly remembered leaving it open in her hurry to find her babysitter. Bisca however thought nothing of it and opened the door. She flipped on the light switch in Levy's room, hoping for better results, and was pleasantly surprised when light filled the room. Bisca beamed down at the girl. Levy returned the smile, heartbeat slowing to a more comfortable pace as the panic drained out of her.

The happy face was short lived though, because lying on the bed, folded neatly onto her pillow, and most certainly _not_ where she had left it, was Levy's blanket.

"Found it!" Bisca said brightly, holding up the soft bit of fabric. "Silly thing. You probably just dreamt you lost your blanket."

"But," Levy protested, pulling the blanket down and clutching it to her chest. "But I didn't fall asleep. I looked everywhere. I promise."

Bisca ruffled Levy's hair with one hand and then threw the blanket over the girl's face. The playful actions did nothing to soothe her racing heart. Levy knew she didn't believe her. There was no way that blanket was anywhere near that pillow when she left her room. She'd searched everywhere that it could have been, and yet. How? How had it ended up there?

"But… but…" Levy started, only to be cut off.

"I'm sure you looked everywhere, sweetheart," Bisca said, pandering to the girl when she looked like she would continue to argue. "Now that you have it, let's get you to bed, k?"

Levy nodded, and swallowed. She knew Bisca didn't believe her, that nothing she would say would get her to believe her. Her tone of voice, the one all adults and authority figures used when they thought a child was lying or making up stories, told her as much.

So she climbed into bed, and Bisca grabbed the quilt to spread it across her. She tucked the girl into bed, fluffing the pillow beneath her head before tucking a lock of hair behind Levy's ear. Bisca bade her goodnight a second time, turned off the light and then shut the door.

Clutching her blanket tightly to her chest, Levy tried to sleep. Honestly she did. Tried to slow her breathing, to calm the voice in her head that screamed at her that something wasn't right and when nothing else happened, she rolled over a final time. Her bones turned to liquid as fatigue claimed her and she melted into the mattress, grip loosening on the blanket and on the world.

She drifted, floating along in that void that petered on the edge of sleep, the place where sounds and feelings lose meaning and the trickle of dreams seep into reality. Where lines blur and the impossibilities of the day fade to the machinations of the imagination. She could still hear the whir of the fan and the faint sounds coming from downstairs where Bisca must have turned the volume up on the television.

Sleep had almost claimed her when something shifted. It took a moment for her drowsy brain to catch up, but Levy realized the blanket moved. Just slightly, but it moved. Maybe it was the imagining of her sleepy mind. Maybe she shifted enough that it was slipping off the bed.

Blindly, Levy reached across the bed with a groggy hand. She pulled, trying to grab it before it could completely fall of the bed and to the floor. Instead, with a jerk, the blanket wrenched itself back out of her fingers. Mind still hazy, she failed to question the action as she tugged on it again, and again it slipped from her grasp. She reached to yank on the irksome thing a third time. This time it stuck on something and refused to budge.

Levy cracked an eye open to glare at the offending object. Only to have the glare met with a pair of glowing red eyes. She shut her eye again and sighed, relaxing against the pillow.

Eyes!

Her eyes shot open. There, crouched down at eye level and staring back at her, were a pair of familiar eyes, filled with mirth. The glint in his eye accented the smug fanged grin that adorned his face.

"Boo."

An unholy screech flew out of her mouth as she threw the blanket at the monster and scrambled back. Her back collided awkwardly in the corner between her headboard and the wall. Curling in on herself, she grabbed the nearest pillow and held it against her chest to steady herself. Wide-eyed and panting, Levy tried to catch her breath and make sense of the sight before her.

There, standing next to her, well more like hunched over, clutching his sides as he laughed was a familiar figure.

"Gajeel!" she cried, as the pounding in her ears subsided, and her sleep-addled brain came to terms with what her eyes were telling her.

Gajeel, in all his shiny metallic flesh, was back, actually there in her room. She wasn't sure if she should be terrified or relieved, and so settled somewhere in between.

"Ya dropped this," he said.

He handed her the blanket from where it'd fallen on the floor next to him. The cheeky grin on his face held no malicious intent, at least as far as Levy could tell and so she snatched it up. The tips of her fingers brushed against the back of his hand and where she expected cold, she was greeted with warmth. She shivered at the feeling. With a deep breath, she pressed the cloth to her cheek.

She shot him a timid smile, to which he answered with a scowl, as though by smiling at her earlier he'd forgotten himself for a moment. Undeterred, her grin grew. During Gajeel's first visit the two had stayed up much later than they should have. Levy's easy forgiveness and persistent insistence that the two become friends wore down the boy, and despite their rough introduction, the two had worked out what Levy assumed was some sort of a truce. Though Levy remained convinced that Gajeel would never loose his surly attitude.

"Gajeel, I thought I'd never see you again!" " she breathed in an excited rush. And though his laughter had tapered off a short time ago, he chuckled again at the eagerness betrayed in her voice. Unconsciously, Levy scooted closer to the boy, and leaned in toward him. "What are you doing here?"

"Dunno," he said, but something in his voice held a hint of a predatory undertone that made the hairs on the back of Levy's neck rise. "I was just hungry, and you taste delicious," he added with a growl.

"What!?" Levy squawked, scrambling back. "B-but… But you said."

"I know what I said," he replied with a smirk that spoke of things she didn't know, taunting her, and even at such a young age, Levy balked at the notion of not understanding something.

He leaned forward, wings outspread, and slinked onto the bed, steadily creeping closer to her. Levy noticed then the twitching of his nose as he sniffed the air around her. She shrunk back further into herself as he pressed on. He chuckled darkly as he stopped, nose inches from the top of her head. Sniffing was too mild a word though for the great gulps of air that he drew into his lungs then. The monster threw back his head and breathed deeply. Gajeel's dark chuckle turned to what would have been uproarious laughter at the terror that was so clearly written on Levy's face.

But the laughter cut short and turned to the most unintimidating stuttered yelp when he stumbled, tripping over the tangle of sheets, and blankets, and pillows, and nearly careened face first into Levy's hair before he caught himself. Levy missed the sheepish flush of his cheeks as their heads nearly collided, but she definitely caught his growl, attempting to cover his embarrassment.

"Then why..." she began only to stop when Gajeel shifted, fading in and out of shadow almost imperceptibly and landed next to her with a thud that shook the bed underneath them.

"Like I said, ya taste delicious." He took another deep breath and then gave her a long suffering sigh. "Ya really don't know nothing, do ya?"

"You mean 'I don't know anything'," she said before she realized that correcting the young monster might not be the best idea.

He scowled again, eyes narrowing into crimson slits. "What I mean," he said with a growl, "Is you know nothin' about anything. About us, monsters, I mean."

"I know you're scary," she said, "and you said that you don't eat people, but I taste delicious?"

He nodded, the slow nod of someone listing to a person state the obvious. "Well, not really you so much," he added. The corners of his mouth twitched, like he wanted to smile, but the scowl remained in place. He leaned closer to her and bared his teeth at her. The light of the clock glinted of his fangs and Levy shuddered. "Your fear."

"My fear?" she squeaked, too loudly and too close to Gajeel's ears. He grimaced at the sound

"Jeez, pipsqueak, you're so loud," he grumbled.

"Am not!" she huffed, crossing her arms across her chest. "And I'm not a pipsqueak."

"Sure ya are," he scoffed.

Gajeel lifted a single taloned finger and pointed it at the girl. She cowered away from the digit. He poked her in the cheek and much to her chagrin, the sound that left her mouth could be called nothing less than a squeak.

"See?" In the dim light of the room, he could just make out the flush of her cheeks. The smirk on his face grew deeper. "Squeak. So that's what I'm gonna call you "

She glowered at the nickname, but hesitated when Gajeel sniffed the air again. He closed his eyes, drinking in the scent of what Levy didn't know. She could smell the cottony scent of the fabric softener and the faintest hint of the new shampoo she'd used to wash her hair earlier that night. The studs that lined his brow furrowed in confusion for a moment.

"What are you doing?" she asked, her own confusion written clear on her own face.

"Tastin' ya," he replied, without thinking. Eyes still closed, he leaned in closer, nose next to Levy's ear. She shuddered as a trickle of fear streamed down her spine. Gajeel hadn't meant to answer her so candidly, but the amount of information he was taking in overwhelmed him. "For a minute ya tasted different."

"Different? What do you mean? How are you tasting me?"

"Ya really don't know anything then," he said with a sigh, shoving the blankets and pillows against the headboard, surreptitiously leaving room for the girl. He leaned back onto the stack behind him, tucking his wings in tightly and then shifted, wiggling to make himself more comfortable. When Levy made no motion to join him, Gajeel gave her a sharp nod and waited until the girl joined him before continuing. "Us monsters, things that go bump in the night, boogiemen, whatever ya wanna call us, we eat your fear, all your bad feelings. Your anger, and fear. We can smell it on ya. Every person tastes different, and you, you're delicious."

Though she tried her best not to, tried to hide the trembling in her voice, she squeaked, "Delicious?!"

Pink blossomed across her cheeks at the sound and Levy hoped that the light of the room was dim enough to hide it from whatever senses Gajeel had. The huffed laughter told her otherwise. Rather than stew on her embarrassment she pressed on.

"What do you mean taste?" she asked.

"It's like a taste and a smell together. Your fear, like when I made the lights flicker…"

"That was you!?" she exclaimed.

"Yes, now quit interruptin'," he scolded her, eyes snapping to a mild glare. Gajeel nudged her with an elbow.

"Sorry," she said with a sheepish smile. "You were saying?"

"Right, so when I made the lights go out, I could tell you were scared cause I could taste it and it was so good, but now you're different."

"What does it taste like?"

"Your fear…." Gajeel squinted an eye shut and thought for a moment. "Not sure how to explain it really," he admitted, scratching his head. "It's cold," he finally breathed as though lost in thought or memory. "And metallic. Like blood. And something old, ancient, like dirt and fire. From back in those lost days of early man when instinct kept you and your kind alive."

"O-oh," she stuttered. "And you said it changed?"

"Yeah. When you got mad, it got hot. Not hot hot, but warmer and spicier, like wood fired pepper. Just a flash though, cause you weren't really mad, just annoyed. Tasted pretty good too, but your fear is better. The best really. I tried…" He paused. "I tried not to come back, to find someone else ta scare, so we could be friends like ya wanted, but I couldn't."

"It's prolly cause you're my _primum pavor_ ," he shrugged.

" _Primum_? _Pavor?_ "

"My first scare. It's a rite of passage. When a monster reaches a certain age he gets hungry. So hungry that only scarin' a human fills him up. His _primum pavor_ is special. Their fear calls to the monster and tastes better to him. Least that's what my pops said anyway," he said, ducking his head.

Levy stared at the boy, awed at the strangely poetic words coming from the brusque boy. She didn't know how to reply, unable to reconcile her picture of the boy she'd created in her head with the one sitting next to her. He grinned at her confused face, but when she continued to gape at him it made him self-conscious. Gajeel stared down at his hands, not wanting to meet her eye any longer.

Maybe it was a trick of the light, but Levy would have sworn that the metallic sheen of his cheeks turned a shade pinker under her careful inspection.

Yes there was definitely a blush staining the monster's cheeks, and Levy's cheeks flushed in response. The two sat in silence for a while, Levy picking at the fuzz on her flannel pajamas and Gajeel staring at the shadows.

"So you came cause you were hungry? Do you eat like normal people?" Levy asked. "Like real food?"

The boy nodded, still fascinated with his hands. "It's like a second stomach. I can eat and eat and eat and still feel hungry. I can scare others too, but nothin' fills me up as much as your fear does."

"Well then," Levy said, voice filled with determination. She grabbed his hand and he looked up to meet her gaze. "I'm just gonna have to get used to it then. If you're hungry, you're going to have to eat. Friends take care of each other, right?"

"Right."


	4. Believe What You Read

_We are, We are the shaken_

 _We are the monsters_

 _Underneath your bed_

 _Yeah_

 _Believe what you read_

"Monsters" by Matchbook Romance

* * *

10

* * *

After that second night, Levy and Gajeel's tentative truce blossomed into a full friendship. Any time the monster needed nourishment, he knew Levy's door was always open. Try as he might Gajeel couldn't resist the sunny disposition of the small girl who greeted him each time with such enthusiasm. After she was done screaming her head off that was. But for every time the boy came to feast on her fear, he returned the favor, playing games and talking well into the night with the girl. The arrangement worked out quite well for the two. Especially Levy, who struggled with being the new kid that first year of school. It was only when a pair of brothers moved to the school and joined her class that Levy felt much less alone during the daylight hours.

Night however was a much different story. While Gajeel didn't show up every night, and there was no set schedule as to when he would make his nocturnal visits, each time, Levy couldn't help but be excited to see the boy who over the next three years became her best friend.

* * *

It had been nearly three years to the day since that fateful night, not that Gajeel was counting or anything, and the monster had something special planned for his friend. A very special something.

 _Spiders_.

It's not like Levy's fear of spiders wasn't that obvious. By this time Gajeel knew everything the girl was afraid of, even the things that Levy refused to own up to. One night, just a few months shy of the start of the school year, Gajeel noticed a spike in fear in the middle of a game Monopoly. The tangy metallic flavor that he'd gorged himself on earlier that night flared high overriding the other hodgepodge of emotions that normally swirled around her, especially when she'd been riding high just minutes from victory in the game that had taken them a week to play.

Levy flinched, throwing the paper bills she'd been grabbing out of the Free Parking space into the air with a cry. The paper fluttered through the air as Levy scrambled closer to Gajeel and away from the board.

That was when he noticed the spindly legged thing crawling across the board and a deep booming laugh shook his entire body. It rattled the windows and not for the first time in their friendship, Gajeel was thankful for the spell that silenced the room to the world outside. Levy glared at him, downright glared, and he knew that this would be something he used when he came to scare her.

So he waited. Waited until the night was over, intentionally letting the topic, and the spider, die at Levi's behest. Waited through the next couple times he visited. Waited long enough for Levy to get comfortable again. Waited until he was nice and hungry.

And then the nightmares started.

For two weeks Gajeel weaved his way into her dreams, hiding in the shadows that lurked even there. There he waited, wrapped in the mist that surrounded her in her dreams. Then ever so slightly he began to manipulate her dreamscape, sending tendrils of darkness to crawl along the edges of her vision. Then, just one. One tiny skittering thing broke off from the others and scurried across the ground in front of her.

In her dream, she screamed, her reaction instantaneous. She stumbled, falling back into the grey nothingness that she'd been floating in, and back into her own body. Wide awake, she expected Gajeel to appear, just like he did any time something truly frightened her. Heart racing, she scanned the room and when he didn't materialize, she brushed it off as nothing more than a nightmare. So with a quick prayer that the nightmare wouldn't return, she sunk back into a fitful sleep. The prayer must have worked, she figured, when the nightmare didn't return.

At that point Gajeel had yet to tell his friend all that he could do. That he could walk through dreams and his enhanced senses. He assumed she figured out the heightened smell and taste based off what he'd told her three years ago. Gajeel didn't even know his full capabilities as he was still discovering new depths to his powers as he grew. Beneath the bed, folded into darkness, the monster chuckled so low that even if Levy had the same augmented hearing Gajeel did, she still would have strained to hear it.

* * *

A couple nights later he hit again. _Just to take the edge off his hunger,_ he told himself, _and to prep her for the greater fright to come._

She found herself walking down a gravel path, and though Levy couldn't hear the crunch of the gravel or feel the pebbles move and shift as she walked, she knew it was gravel beneath her feet. Hedges surrounded her on either side and she could only move forward. The sun started to set and the hedge maze slowly grew colder and colder.

Somewhere in the back of Levy's mind she wondered if she'd thrown off her blankets in her sleep. _She_ hadn't, but Gajeel had been systematically shifting the blankets, tangling them around her. He wrapped them around her body and tightened them in several places. Just as Levy's dream-self walked into the most massive and unexpected spiderweb he could have made. It was that sticky feeling of cobwebs as they brush across your face and the panic that sets in when you can't remember if you actually saw the spider in the web because you weren't expecting it.

Levy thrashed, in both the dream and in real life, and she awoke, panting. She struggled against the blankets around her.

Again she looked around for her friend, and again she was disappointed when only darkness, and not the playful smirk that Gajeel usually wore on days he came to play, was there to greet her. She chocked it up to another nightmare though and as soon as her heart slowed she passed out again. Beneath the bed Gajeel wore the very smirk that Levy missed so much. He felt bad, tasting the gnawing hollowness—the hollow pockets of air between the layers of a croissant like there should be something there, but there isn't— that he knew meant she missed him. Next time, he swore to himself, next time he would stay and play a game or two with her.

And so he did. He'd waited a month this time. By then his hunger was ravenous and wasn't sure if it was entirely hunger that pained him. Other than sending her nightmares, Gajeel had yet to see his friend since that night with monopoly and he missed his friend sorely.

This time, Levy's dream-self found her way into a dark, secluded forest. One that Gajeel didn't have to struggle to form as Levy quickly realized she had placed herself into her imagined version of the Forbidden Forest from Harry Potter. Levy and her parents just finished reading the second book in the series the night before. The scent of old growth; the creaking groans of the woods; it was exactly how Levy pictured it in her head.

She knew where this was going, where she was going, as she traveled down a dimly lit path. Deeper and deeper she trudged into the woods, until the canopy obscured the sky and for all Levy knew, night had fallen. Up in the trees, there was a noise, like the skittering of a small dog across wood flooring and Levy shivered. Then, she was running, running through the maze of roots and trunks that Gajeel had hastily constructed around her. She came to a clearing, and booked it across, her short legs eating up the ground beneath her feet.

Until…

One of the roots grabbed her, lifted out of the muck and wrapped around her ankle, and yanked her down to the dirt. Levy landed with a thud and had she been awake it would have knocked the breath from her lungs. Instead she scrambled backward, away from the sounds behind her, and even though everything in her told her run, she screamed. Screamed because there, crouched down on the edge of the clearing and well within jumping distance was the most colossal spider Levy'd ever seen. Eight hair covered legs the size of small tree trunks crackled through the underbrush, squashing bushes and branches like insects.

 _It loomed closer…_

Levy could make out the hairs that covered it's body like the bristles of a broom, and she didn't want to know if the texture was the same. But it didn't look like she was going to get that option. In the moonlight it was easy for Levy to see that it was actually more brown than black.

 _And closer…_

Now it was standing right over her. Fangs glinted in the moonlight. Fangs that dripped with lethal poison. A single glob dropped to the forest floor, next to her head. It hissed, dissolving the debris that covered the ground, and because it was most definitely a dream, Levy watched both the drop fall and the spider above her in horror.

 _And closer…_

It leaned down, breath blowing her blue locks so it tickled her cheek. The spider stopped, hovering just above her nose. Fangs clacked together and Levy did the only thing she could think of.

She screamed.

Loud and hard and startled herself so much that she jolted awake. Awake and screaming in her bedroom, all traces of the forest and the leaves that she'd been lying on and most importantly the spider were gone and why weren't her parents storming into her room?

The screaming stopped as Levy's confusion set in. Why _weren't_ her parents coming in? Movement in her peripheral caught her attention. Levy spun, and there, next to the bed was a familiar and well missed form.

"Yo," he greeted her, giving her a two fingered salute.

"Gajeel!" Levy exclaimed, throwing herself at the boy.

The two collided with an oomph and Gajeel's arms came up automatically to catch the girl. She greeted him with a sunny smile, one that he returned with his own version, fangs bared. He'd hit yet another growth spurt in the last year and much to Levy's chagrin she now only came up to the boy's chest.

And in the comforting embrace of her best friend, Levy's fear dissipated as waves of excitement overwhelmed her.

"You've been gone so long," she said, finally releasing him from her embrace and lowering herself to the bed. Crossing her legs in front of her, she scanned his body, taking in the changes of the last three months. He'd grown, and his hair was longer, shaggier and she wondered if they had scissors in whatever place he was from or believed in things like haircuts. Did monsters get haircuts?

"I take it you missed me?" he chuckled and her smile widened.

Gajeel threw himself onto the mattress, plopping onto the bed. Levy giggled as his weight bounced her closer to him. It had been a long time. The longest the two had been apart since he'd first visited her.

"Uh huh. Where have you been?"

"Away…" he hesitated. "I wanted to give ya a good scare. Been kinda buildin' up to it, but you…" he paused, tasting the air around him. "You ain't scared anymore."

Levy's brow furrowed. Of course she was scared. Her monster was here. He'd given her quite a fright, hadn't he? With the spiders and the forest, because Gajeel knew all her fears, it was his job to know them. He must have had the ability to walk into her dreams. It wouldn't surprise her. And like everything else that concerned her friendly monster, she readily accepted the fact that he'd been able to manipulate her dreams.

"Were you here the whole time?" she asked suddenly as she connected the dots, and from the shame clearly written across his face, he knew he'd been caught. "You were!" she exclaimed in a rush bouncing up onto her knees. "You were here the whole time! I bet you were under the bed the whole time and you didn't even come to visit, you jerk! It's been so long and I missed you so much and you were there the whole time and I didn't even know it. Are you the one who gives me all my nightmares? Can you give me good dreams too? Are you actually in my dreams? Do you have to be asleep too to get into them? How does…"

"Squeak, slow down," Gajeel said, waving his hands at her. Levy blushed as she realized she'd been rambling. "Slow down. Yes, I hid under the bed. Not every time though. Sometimes I was in the shadows." He shrugged and shook his head. "I can't give you nightmares, or dreams, not unless you're already dreamin', and no not all nightmares are from me. You humans have pretty scary imaginations. 'Specially you, Squeak."

Gajeel poked her in the nose, and Levy giggled.

"You didn't answer all of my questions," she whined.

"Alright, alright," he said, scratching the back of his neck. "Uhhhhh.. No, I'm not actually in your dreams and I'm not asleep either. It's not like a shared dream or nothin'. It's more like a daydream. I just kinda focus on your breathing, and then I... just kinda slip in. It's a weird feeling too. Like sliding into the next room, but more squiggly."

"Squiggly?" Levy laughed.

"Yeah," the boy answered, cheeks flushing a bright red. "Kinda like walking through jello. Only it doesn't squish through your toes."

Gajeel wiggled his clawed toes to demonstrate and laughter rang out as the two lost themselves to the giggles. The bed shook with the force of it, and Levy in particular couldn't restrain the bell-like peals of laughter coming from her. She collapsed onto the bed and Gajeel joined her not much later, a wolfish grin spread wide across his face at his friend. It took a while for the two to regain some semblance of composure, but when they finally did calm down, Levy started to tell Gajeel everything he'd missed over the last couple months.

She didn't get far before a low rumbling came from the boy. It was unlike any noise she'd ever heard Gajeel make before. Levy paused, mid story. Amber eyes stared at the boy, bewildered as he made the sound a second time.

Gajeel flushed, pink sprinkling across the bridge of his nose as Levy leaned closer. Cheek resting against the soft well worn fabric of the shirt she snuck to him ages ago, Levy pressed her ear against his chest, hoping to hear it again, and hear it she did. Only it wasn't coming from his chest.

"I'm hungry," he admitted, when she looked up at him, amber eyes wide in the dark of the room. Rubbing the back of his neck, he added. "Ya weren't really scared for long enough tonight, and I waited till I was really hungry."

"Oh," Levy said, pausing for a moment to think. "What if you visit one of the other kids on your route."

"Um," Gajeel flushed, not wanting to admit how much work actually went into planning a scare. They didn't speak of it often, that Gajeel visited other kids in the night, scaring them so he could eat. He knew that she felt bad that her fear alone couldn't fill her friend; that he had to seek out other children to scare in order to survive. "It takes a while of scouting to get a good scare out of 'em and ah, it's been long enough that it'd take a bunch of 'em to really fill me up."

"Hmmm," Levy hummed. She looked around the room for inspiration. There had to be some sort of solution; something she could do to solve this problem. The longer she went without an idea, the more she worried that her friend would go hungry. As much as she wished that worry would turn to actual fear, Gajeel had spent enough time teaching her the basics of fear and scaring, albeit in his gruff manner, for her to know it wouldn't.

Gajeel started to tell her that he would be fine. That he could make it to another scare, when his stomach rumbled again, deep and low and long. They both sighed, lying back onto the bed, and then turned to one another. Making eye contact in the darkened room, they giggled.

"Oh!" Levy exclaimed, startling the monster next to her. He jumped, and Levy giggled again. "I'll be back. Stay. Right. There. Don't move."

Levy hopped off the bed and dashed to the bedroom door. She wiggled her fingers in a quick farewell to the boy, before slipping into the shadows of the hallway. Gajeel humored her, staying frozen on the bed. He sighed to himself, staring up at the ceiling, trying to think of a last ditch attempt to fill himself up, or at least take the edge off the worst of the hunger. It didn't take long before she returned. Flipping on a light on the bedside table, Levy threw herself onto the bed, bouncing on to the mattress. She threw down an object into the space between them.

"What is that?" Gajeel asked.

"A book," Levy replied, a smirk to rival his to which Gajeel met with a roll of his eyes.

Of course he knew what a book was; the two of them spending many nights pouring over books as well as games. Levy's favorite being a picture book about a dragon, who's skillfully illustrated pictures reminded her of Gajeel. Gajeel couldn't name how many times the two of them lost themselves in literature together.

"Mama and I were dusting the library last weekend and we found a box of books I hadn't gone through yet. Mom said they were ' _too_ _scary'_ , and that she'd put them up for me for when I was _'older'_ ," Levy said, wrinkling her nose. "She won't remember though. It's why the box was still in the library. She forgot to put it up. The big projects she gets done, like redoing my room, but cleaning out the library or the other rooms that she and Daddy don't use that often, even if I use it all the time…" Levy trailed off.

Gajeel could taste the tangy bitterness behind Levy's words. Levy had just start to realize her parents weren't around enough to involve themselves in their daughter's life more; that they didn't even know her interests. The sour flavor that occasionally accompanied Levy's comments about her parents was something new to both Levy and Gajeel and Gajeel didn't like hearing the tone on his friend who was usually so full of sunshine and rainbows.

"So, scary story?" Gajeel asked, scooting up the bed.

He turned behind him, fluffing the mountain of pillows Levy slept with. Leaning back, he grabbed a pillow from behind his head, and whacked Levy in the face with it, effectively distracting her from following the train of thought that she'd been headed down. Levy giggled, and grabbed the book and a blanket before scooting across the mattress to join him at the head of the bed. Snuggling into the pillows next to Gajeel, she threw the blanket across their bodies and nestled down next to her friend. Gajeel slid closer, and Levy leaned her head against his chest. Propping the book up on her knees, she opened the book and cleared her throat.

 _"Jonathan Harker's Journal: 3 May. Bistritz.-Left Munich at 8:35 P.M., on 1st May, arriving at Vienna early next morning; should have arrived at 6:46, but train was an hour late."_

* * *

Props to anyone who can name that scary story!

R&R


	5. Something Strange in Your Neighborhood

_If there's something strange in you neighborhood_

 _Who you gonna call? (ghostbusters)_

 _If there's something weird_

 _And it don't look good_

 _Who you gonna call? (ghostbusters)_

"Ghostbusters" by Ray Parker Jr.

* * *

14

* * *

There's a peeling of bells as Gajeel emerges from underneath Levy's bed, and he can't contain his groan at the sound.

"You're gonna have to try harder," Levy says between giggles.

The last few years the two of them have settled into a new routine of sorts. A slightly irritating, less _'Levy screaming her head off'_ routine, one that Gajeel doesn't have to put as much effort into. Most Friday nights the two can be found holed up in Levy's bedroom, reading together after whatever babysitter her parents find for her put her to bed. After she'd grown old enough to be left on her own, the girl and her monster migrate to the estate's expansive library. They take turns reading to one another in the library's overstuffed chairs. Most times it's a horror novel of some sort, Levy smuggling in new ones once they've finished their supply in the library, but on nights when Gajeel is full, and the gnawing hunger is abated they venture into other genres.

"I wasn't trying that hard," he grumbles and Levy giggles at him again. He honestly wasn't and while he's grown used to not surprising his friend, the times where he does attempt to scare her, to keep himself from growing rusty he tells himself, he finds her lack of fear frustrating.

"You've been reading without me again?" he growls as he plops down onto the bed next to her. There's an undertone of old fear tinging the room, lying beneath her joy at Gajeel's appearance. The book lying face down on the bed betraying her as well.

"Guilty," she flushes, cheeks going pink, "But you're late and I got bored and Mom and Dad left early."

"You're no fun," he says, snatching up the book before she can reach for it.

It's an old one. Dracula, the first book they read together, and Gajeel stops to scent the air again. There's a musty quality that he didn't notice before which means she's been feeling nostalgic too.

"I'm loads of fun, and you know it," she says, nudging his shoulder.

The sleeve of her oversized shirt falls off her shoulder. Gajeel gives her a blank look, one that she knows means that he's humoring her, and she grins back at him. He smiles then, unable to keep from smiling back at her, baring his fangs in a cheesy grin, and she leans further into his shoulder.

"So, where are the 'rents at tonight?" he asks. His voice is casual, almost too casual. Things are strained with her parents and has been for some time.

"Where they are every other Friday night: out," she says.

Gajeel can taste the tangy bitterness behind Levy's words that her parents aren't around enough to involve themselves in their daughter's life more; that they didn't even know her interests. The sour flavor that sometimes accompanied Levy's comments about her parents is something new to both Levy and Gajeel.

He knows it bothers her. That he could stop in any given Friday night and they'd be able to hang out unencumbered by adults like they are now. That her parents' monthly dinners and dates and galas and charity events have increased until they're weekly events as soon as Levy proved herself capable of taking care of herself on her own and they didn't need to hire a babysitter.

And just like he knows that it bothers her, he knows that sometimes she needs to vent. He wonders if tonight is one those nights.

"Hey, speaking of 'rents'," she says, springing up from the bed. Her voice is bright, too bright and that coupled with the bitter flavor rolling off her in waves has the hair on the back of Gajeel's neck standing on end. "Want to see what guilt induced gift they got me for my birthday?"

"But your birthday isn't for another two weeks," Gajeel says cautiously. "I thought you were spending the weekend at a resort on top of Mount Hakobe?"

"So did I," she spits, pacing at the foot of the bed. "But I guess Daddy never told his boss that, because now he has to go to a mandatory retreat, and his boss insisted that he bring Mom too. Guess all the movers and shakers are bringing their spouses."

"Oh Squeak," Gajeel starts to say. His voice is hushed, a tone she's never heard him use before but it grates at her nerves.

"It's _fine_ , Gajeel," she says, waving a hand at him.

But it's not, and they both know it, but there's really nothing Gajeel can do. He's told her to talk to them, that they're her parents and they'd be willing to listen if she told them that she wanted to see more of them. But Gajeel knows there's no use fighting with her when she's in one of these moods.

"It just means that you and I can spend the weekend hanging out," she continues, "We can gorge ourselves on candy and junk food and scary movies. After all they did get me this."

Levy picks up a remote off her vanity. She presses a button and a hole opens up at the foot of her bed. There's a gentle hum of motors as a giant screen emerges from the compartment.

"Isn't it great," she says, voice void of enthusiasm. It sets his teeth on edge, but he remains silent. "It's the newest smart lacrima-vision. It's got Netflix and like every other streaming app a girl could dream of."

The screen flickers to life, and Levy tosses the remote at him. Gajeel catches it, placing it down next to him with a roll of his eyes. Levy jumps up next to him, scrambling to the top of the bed. She reaches below the bed, and pulls out a bag of salt and vinegar chips.

"Best of all," she says, setting the chips between them, knowing Gajeel's penchant for the tangy treat. "I know just the movie to start us with."

* * *

Two and a half hours pass and they've just started Bram Stoker's Dracula when Levy shivers. They'd started off with the original X1931 version. _The classic,_ Levy declared, _a necessity since the book was_ _their first foray into feeding her wayward monster without him having to plan something elaborate to scare her._ Gajeel just chuckled, ears tinging themselves pink at the embarrassing memory.

Levy's curled up on her half of the bed. A bowl of popcorn rests between them, Levy using the time between movies to stretch her legs and use the family's popcorn maker. Air popped popcorn being the staple of her childhood movie nights. Gajeel could taste waves of wistfulness from down the hall when he'd gone to check on her.

She shivers, pulling herself into a tighter ball and Gajeel reaches down to the bottom of the bed, retrieving the gray throw she's left there. Levy turns bleary eyes at the monster, who takes the time to place the bowl on the table next to him, and then throws the oversized blanket over the two of them. Levy snuggles further into the bed, scooting closer to Gajeel. Her hand brushes against his and her eyes drift closed. She dozes, half asleep as the vampire drinks from his hapless victim.

Gajeel is about ready to just turn off the movie and let the girl sleep when there's a sudden thud above them. It's loud and heavy and so unexpected that they both jump. Gajeel has to scramble to keep himself from falling off the bed and as one they turn to the other.

"That's not me," he says, eyes wide, and Levy knows he's telling the truth.

* * *

A.N.: I'm gonna end this chapter with a huge apology. I have had the absolute worst writers block when it's come to this story, but I think I've got part of that figured out. Since I started writing, my writing style, or at least the type of writing that I've been doing has changed, and it's been much harder to switch back to the style that I started Monster in. So, bear with me, I'm changing how this story is formatted. Eventually, I'm planning on going back to the first chapters and fixing them, but probably not until Monster is done.


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